Red
by Frustration At Its Finest
Summary: He can fix this, he knows he can. Can he hold on long enough to do so? Spoilers for chapter 110 of the manga. SoMa fluff drabble. Rated T for mild gore and language.


Note: This contains mild gore, cussing, and spoilers for chapter 110 of the Soul Eater manga. I do not own Soul Eater, or any of its characters, they belong to Atsushi Okubo. Enjoy!

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Red. It's red that is gushing from the hole in her chest. He knows that logically, that is the colour a healthy person would bleed, but this normally healthy person is bleeding out in front of him, bound to die if he doesn't do anything, and he knows what he has to do. He has to turn that red to black, whatever the cost.

"Come on Soul, you don't have the time to pussyfoot around, she's dying, you know what to do," taunts the demon.

"Give me a fucking second, I need to think!" Soul snarls back, pulse pounding in his ears, ever the reminder of what needs to be done.

"You better hurry kid, things aren't looking too good for your girlie. If you don't do it now, she's a goner."

So Soul lets himself be drowned in black, inhales until it replaces the air that was in his lungs with ink, lets it run rampant through his veins. It feels good he thinks. What was he so worried about? Some girl? No you idiot,_ THE girl._ The only one, she needs you, don't forget when it counts the most. He can feel a faint fluttering of the wings of her soul. This is it, he thinks to himself, and floods their resonance link with the tendrils of ebony, holding onto anything solid he can find, praying to anyone who will listen that he doesn't loose himself in this madness. A shockwave hits him, and he recognizes it as her, her soul getting stronger again. Out in reality, he can see her blood loss slowing, black seeping from between her teeth bared in a grimace. He feels another shockwave, this one stronger, and sees her bloody black grimace turn to a wide maniacal grin. He watches as her pupils dilate, swallow the iris whole , and wonders briefly if he will be able to tear her back from the abyss of crazy he just threw her into. He quickly remembers that there is no other option and starts to swim, praying to find the light of her soul.

She can feel him near. So near that she can taste his wavelength in the dark that surrounds her but she still can't see him. It tastes of polished steel and old copper. She sends a pulse of her wavelength outward, using it like sonar, and she finds him a little ways behind her. He sends his reply in the form of a wave, and it takes all she has not to weep with joy. She reaches with arms she can't see towards a soul she can only feel. Everything that touches her is cold, lifeless, but when she finally does feel flesh under her palm, her partners fingers grasping at hers, she does let out a little joyful sob. She pulls at him until he is right in front of her, radiating heat, and wraps herself around him in the tightest embrace she's ever given.

"You didn't think I was going to let you go, did you?" Soul asks incredulously, pressing her as close as possible.

"I didn't think anything. I'm pretty positive I was dead for a second or two…"Maka replies uneasily. "I wouldn't expect you to reverse death for me. I have high expectations of you but that would have just been unfair." He is about to laugh when he catches a glimpse of the outside world and is actually quite terrified by what he sees. Maka, in all her glory, is flailing around recklessly , painted with burgundy and ebony, seething with bloodlust and madness. He hears her faint words, merely an echo of her former more sane self.

"Come on you dumb fucker, is that all you've got?! I bleed more than that every month! You can do better!" she screeches at the incarnate of insanity in front of her. The hole in her chest is gone, replaced with a pitch dark scab, and she's been revived with far too much vigor to be contained within a normal human. Soul thinks she would breath fire if she could.

"Maka, we need to find our way back, I don't know how long we can keep this up. One of us has to be sane for this." Soul tells her. She hears his unspoken warning. _We won't ever get back if we don't go back now._ She knows he's right.

"Soul?"

"Yeah Maka?"

"I'm tired."

"I know Maka, so am I. I'll make tea when we get home, okay?"

"Okay." And suddenly she's glowing, burning away the darkness around them. _Oh, _Soul thinks._ Right. Angel soul and all that. Go figure she'd pull some ridiculously girly shit like that and save both our asses._

"I can hear you, you know? Maka grumbles, miffed that he actually thinks girly should be considered a derogatory term.

"Hey, I never said that, you just assumed!" He replies to her thought. "I think it's awesome to not be drowning in crazy anymore. And I like your glow-y trick, especially when it's saving me."

"Well it wouldn't work without you, so thank you. And you're welcome, I think?"

He's about to tell her that he wouldn't be anything but an empty husk of a person without her, just ask that little red dude, but they've reached the surface now, and he decides to save that sappy hallmark shit for another time. Because they have more time now, made more of it themselves. He sees the door to the Black room and runs towards it, Maka in tow. When he tears the door open, he's horrified by what meets him. The room is in ruins. Tiles cracked and curtains tattered, but he's relieved to see that ebony beast of a piano is still in perfect condition. He knows he's going to need it again before this is over. When he catches another glimpse of the battle outside, he sees that Maka is sane again, wrapped up in that gown he dresses her in whenever he invites her into his soul. He can't help but smirk at the determined expression on her face. That's his meister alright, alive and well, facing down fear head on and winning.

"Let's do this."

This is a second chance that neither of them are going to give up without a fight.


End file.
